What Jesus Changes | Zephaniah 3:9-20

Good morning. Like I just saw you. Well, at the start of school is right around the corner. And I've been counting this has been a, a 12 week summer used to be when my kids were a little when when the three that I had were little, I used to count the weeks because it was a long summer. It used to be 10 weeks, but for somehow the summer was 11. And then my kids didn't go to school, not Monday or Tuesday, which is Labor Day. So we really had 12 weeks. So it's been a long summer, hot summer, we still have a couple more weeks left and so but the good news is this school year, even Little John day there'll be an five day a week preschool. So from 830 1145 Every day, our house will be quiet. Anyway, that will be here for it. But anyway, this is a Be quiet. But all across our area teachers will be moving back into their rooms. Students will be getting prepared with back to school shopping. The new school year will start here in a few weeks. Last year I had a high schooler, a middle schooler, an elementary schooler and a preschooler this year will be a little different, I think a little easier because I'll have two high schoolers, a middle schooler and a preschooler. And for the first time in over a decade, the elementary schools get a break from having a Wallace. Right, first time for a decade. That's a long time anyway. But back to school is the same every year. But it's also a little different. It's the same process, same procedures, same routines, but there's always a change, there's a difference. And every school, every family, for the Christian, when you are saved, you are the same person. Your identity doesn't typically change when when it comes to your personality. But a change is made you're also different. You're the same, but you're different. You're changing. For one, you're no longer hurtling headlong to hell, you've been saved by the blood of Jesus, you've been born again. God's spirit now resides in you. convicting you of sin, changing your heart to be more like His. And so throughout the rest of your life. Jesus is in the process of changing you. You don't lose your identity completely. You don't lose your complete personality, but he is changing you and to be more into His image. That's what we're looking at today. So we've come across the book of Zephaniah, as we start this sermon series, they'll take us through in the end of September. And October will finally be in the New Testament as we go through the the Bible in a year. But this next series when we're looking at some of the prophets, and the theme of the prophets, if you could just boil it down to a few words is they're asking God's people to turn to God, to turn to Jesus to turn to faith, and the one who saves and so that's really the message. And so we're looking at this the book of Zephaniah, which is only three chapters, today, and we're going to be in chapter three, starting in verse nine. After Zephaniah Till's God's people about the judgment that that they've earned, that they will undergo, and that they will have because of their sin, he says this in verse nine. There'll be a time he says, I will change the speech of the peoples to appear speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord, and serve Him with one accord. From Beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones shall bring my offering. On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me. For then I will remove from your midst your proudly exalted ones, and you shall no longer be haughty and not my holy mountain. But I will leave you in your midst, but I will leave in your midst of people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord, those who are left in Israel, and they shall do no injustice and speak no lies and there shall be found in their mouth, nor shall they be found their mouth the deceitful tongue, for they shall graze and lie down none shall make them afraid. First 14. sing aloud, Oh daughter of Zion, shallow Israel. Rejoice and exult with all your heart. Oh, daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away the judgments against You, he has cleared away your enemies, the king of Israel, the Lord is in your midst, you shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem fear not Zion, that not your hands grow weak, the Lord your God is in your midst and mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you, by his love. He will exalt over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time, I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast. And I will pray to change the shame and to praise and renown and all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together for I will make you renowned and praise among all the peoples of the earth. When I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says, The Lord. Father in heaven, we thank you for today. pray, Lord, that the time we have remaining that you speak through me today, Lord, that my my words are your words, that you fill me with their spirit that we receive your word today, Lord, in Jesus name, amen. When we die, we go to a place the Bible calls paradise. But when Jesus returns, and destroys Satan, destroys evil and death, he will create a new heavens and a new earth. And God's people will receive new resurrected perfect bodies. And we will dwell eternally in heaven, and what's called the New Jerusalem. And this is what this passage is kind of showing that day when he comes back and makes all things renewed. And so this passage, we get a glimpse of this eternal dwelling, as it shows us in this glimpse how Jesus isn't, is in the business of changing things. So in this glimpse, we see three ways that Jesus changes his people. Number one, Jesus changes our attitude. Jesus changes our attitude. Verse nine says, that he will change the speech to a pure speech. So they may call upon the name of the Lord and serve them. God changes people's speech, when they are believers, when they become believers, speech is tied to the heart. So there has to be a heart change, to change when speech and what exactly will change with their speech, it says that they'll have a pure speech, which is reflected by their heart. And that same speech is made possible because they've called out to the Lord for salvation. The same mouth that that cries for God to save them is changed, and a more pure speech comes down. This is why our speech is a good indicator. It's a good mirror to our heart, which can be troubling if we think about that. Speech is a reflection of our heart. So if you have a problem with cursing, or cursing people, then it's a reflection of your heart. And you should check your heart. Look at verse 10. From Beyond the rivers of Cush, my, my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersements shall bring my offering. Do you seen that God's people will come all over the world to worship him? Heavens just not going to be a bunch of South Carolinians. Bunch of Southerners, although I hope there'll be a lot of them. A bunch of Americans. There'll be from all over the world because God didn't just create America. He didn't just create the South. He created the world. So heaven will be global. And he says on verse 11, on that day, you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me. For then I will remove from your midst, you're proudly exalted ones, and you shall no longer be Halti in my holy mountain says that God will remove the prideful and haughty pride and haughtiness is an indication that one is not one of God's people. So on the Day of Judgment, Day of restoration, God removes them from his mountain, that is the New Jerusalem. But then he says in verse 12, but I will leave in your midst people, humble and lowly and they shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord. What he's saying is that pride is a characteristic of not being a child of God. And Humility is a characteristic of being God's People, that humble people will be that humility will be the attitude of those who will dwell with God forever. That humble people seek protection from God. Humble peak, people seek God to be their dwelling and the character of God in God's people humbly trust God, because they know he is the one who gives provision. And he is the one who gives protection not themselves. Not some government, not some person, but God alone. And that is humility. He says, verse 13, that those who are left in Israel being God's people who says, They shall do no injustice, speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouths a deceitful tongue, for they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid, says in the heavenly, new Jerusalem. There'll be no injustice, no lies, no deceit. You won't have to have your lie detector trying to figure out if somebody's lying to you. Sometimes parenting that's what we are, where lie detectors? Is their deceit is their lies. What what is the real truth? What is the real story? You know, we love being around God's people as much as it is great to be around God's people in the church, as much as we love that fellowship. We still are sinned against. We still sin against others, there's still sin, there's still lies, there's still injustice, they're still there's still deceit, but in heaven, it'll be like church with no sin. Amen. Can you imagine? No one you don't have to forgive anyone for anything. There's no lying to detect. There's no deceit happening. There's no sin. There's no jealousy. There's no pettiness. There's just unity. Amen. says that, that, that you will enjoy life and you will lie down and safety, because you will have nothing to fear. That is the restoration that God has given us. And this too, is an attitude change, living a life of no fear, right? We see those. Those bumper stickers have been around forever. It says no fear. I think people who have those are just trying to convince themselves not to be afraid. But in the New Jerusalem, there will be no fear. Because there's nothing to fear, but God Himself. And God has a good God that we've ever we revere and respect that loves us. But there's no sin that can get to us anymore. See, as believers if we really believe in the future we have offered, we really believe that we have a good God that loves us, and is making us more like Him, then our attitudes will change. Amen. We realize that we can't control the things of the world. We can't control we have no control over COVID Or what our governments do about diseases or COVID. We have no control over what's happening in the Ukraine. We have no control over gas prices other than getting irritated when we pump our gas and grumble at it. We have no control over what's going on in China. But we do have a trust in the God who reigns overall. And that's who we fear. That's who we love. That's who we respect. The God who changes our attitude, because he's the word of our life. Number two, God changes our status changes our our status. Verse 14 says, sing aloud, Oh daughter of Zion shout, is real rich, rejoice. This should be the response of God's people, when they reflect on their salvation. So if you decide to shout in worship, I'm not going to tell you to sit down. Because it's in the Bible. It's commanded. we're commanded to sing loud, are commanded to rejoice because of what God has done for us. He says, verse 15, that the Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He has cleared away your enemies, that the Lord is in your midst, the Lord is in our midst today, right here in this room, he's with us. He's here today. And then Jesus, there's no more judgment. There's no more enemies. God has changed our status. We are not guilty of anything anymore because of what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross through His death, burial, and resurrection. For six sting says that on that day it shall be said to Jerusalem. Fear not. Let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, he will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you. By his love. He will exalt his three things God does. It says right here, what's he do? He rejoices over us. Right? Now that feeling you get when someone that you like or love or a parent or a child does well, in athletic events or something like that, you rejoice. I remember when my oldest child scored their first goal when he was three years old. I think I cried. I rejoiced. God rejoices over us. Amen. We've not really done anything to deserve it, if a score anything. But he's still rejoices them. For us. It says that it says that he he quiets us by his love. He quiets down. When my little four year old has problems. My job is to not yell back at him. My job is to quiet them. Quiet him with my love. And then thirdly, it says that he sings about us. Have you ever heard the song about someone and you sing it to him? Maybe you have. I haven't. He sings about us. God does not amazing. He scenes over us our status goes from being condemned last in our sins to being redeemed where God rejoices over us quietus and sings over us. Amen. That's the kind of God we have. It's an amazing transformation. Jesus changes our status. And finally, number three, Jesus changes our future changes our future. Verse 18 says, I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival so that you will no longer suffer reproach. He says, Behold, at that time, I will deal with all your oppressors I will, I will save the lame and gather the outcasts that will change their shame into praise and renown in all, the earth. See gods in the business of turning, flipping the world upside down. He takes the marginalized. And through Jesus, he makes them important. He takes the outcasts and includes them in his his family. It takes the shame of sinners, and he turns their shame in to praise he changes the future of people who thought they had no future, he gives them a future, which is all of us. And he says in verse 20, at that time, I will bring you in, I will gather you together, and I will make you renowned and praise. He's gathering us together. This past week, we went to a family reunion in the Upstate and you know, you know, I love my wife and my wife's family because I had to drive to Clemson to get their drive down the road and the tiger paws on it and all that kind of thing and even pumped GASMA Gamecocks shirt there, the gas station there and Clemson. Oops, that happened anyway, that's what I did. And but we all converged on that lake house coming from all over the place all over him from upstate Charlotte, from the Raleigh area from moncks corner, all the family those who are blood and like me who were born into it all, and I was reminded that was that was not born into it. I was married into it, or I was reminded that by the hosts anyway, we all join there together in the common bond to have that reunion for four days and what seemed like eight nights, right? all there together, we all came there together. That's what he's saying that at one time. At that time. I'm gonna bring you all in and it's gonna be a heavenly family reunion. With no sin, no problems, just love and peace and unity. Can you imagine that? It's hard to imagine. Because heaven is not just a new place. It's the restored place where he's bringing you in. He says I am restoring your fortunes. See before the fall, Adam and Eve existed peacefully with God, there was no shame, there was no sin, but when they sin, the world became cursed. So Heaven is a is a restoration of God's original design and his plan for us for the Earth. See, all of us are born we inherit a body. We did not design God designed that we we inherit a body of sin. We inherit a situation of sin. None of us asked to be born into the situations we are born in Amen. Some have had it better than others. None of us have asked to be subjected to the acts periences We've had to deal with in life. But we have been there. Jesus made it quite clear that the man born blind, was born blind by no fault of his own, or his parents. He was born blind, so that God could work in his life. And he's saying here that heaven is a time of restoration, where the blind man will see where the Paralyzed will walk, where the deaf will hear it. He's not just speaking metaphorically, he's speaking literally, the people you know, that are blind. And I know some people have never been able to see in their lives, they will see in heaven, amen. Their vision will be restored. The Deaf that can't hear any longer if people who die and they lose their hearing, and they die, and they can't hear in heaven, they're gonna be here, everything. People that were born that can never walk can never talk, they're gonna be jumping, and walking, and leaping and talking. And some people you won't even recognize because the restoration will be so great, you won't even recognize them. Amen. But then you'll know who they are. That is our heaven, our future, our fortune is restored. And then as our hope that we have, that's what Jesus changes, he changes our future. Maybe you've never experienced a spiritual change in your life before. That's the case you might not be born again. You might not be saved, today's the day that you can finally say, Lord, today's the day I'm calling out to you today, today, I want to be changed eternally. I want to be forgiven my sins, I want to have eternal life with you. I want to be restored today is that you can make that decision. Maybe as you've gone throughout your life, you've seen the changes as a Christian that you've gone through and, and as a Christian, sometimes these changes are costly. They can cost your relationships. They can cost you a job. They can cost you money. They can cost you a lot of things in your life. Perhaps today during our time of response, you just can come down to these steps. You can say, Lord, help me trust you, as as you make me into your image helped me trust you as you change me to continue to trust him. I'd be glad to pray with you. Maybe you want me to pray with you. I'll do that as well. But whatever it is, wherever God is moving in your life today, say Lord Jesus, thank you for being willing to change me. And give me the patience, the strength and endurance that I need. As you continue to change me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for being that God changes us. Many times you change this forward, we're kicking and screaming in the other direction. But you're such a loving God that you are still pushing forward in that process. As a father as we close our time together today, because we've sung your praises, listen to people singing and taking your Lord's supper and been able to try to reorient our hearts. Lord, that we would understand that you are still working in us, to change us to make us like you. We thank you that you change our attitudes. We thank you that you change our status, condemned to redeemed and we thank You, Lord, that You have changed and are changing our future. We love you for that. And when we are in repayment for that, Lord, even though we can't is our praises or give this time to you Jesus name we pray. Amen.